Our Own Roastery in Belgium

Here is the path every Cantata coffee follows before it reaches your cup. 

1. Choosing the green coffee We start with raw, unroasted beans. Each lot is chosen for its origin, its grade and the flavor it can bring to the cup. 
2. Three quality checks Every lot is checked in its country of origin, again at our trade partner in the Port of Antwerp, and a third time when it arrives at the roastery. Each check looks for visual defects and the right moisture level. 
3. Roasting in Belgium The beans are roasted slowly. The roaster guides the roast curve by hand and checks roast color on every production run. 
4. Testing and packing The quality Lab tests shelf life and traces production steps at random. The coffee is then packed in bags with a strong oxygen and light barrier, flushed with gas to protect its aroma. 
5. Cantata in Dubai The coffee arrives at Cantata, where we grind each order for your brewing method just before it ships, pack it by hand and deliver it across the UAE and the GCC.

Good roasting cannot fix a poor green bean, so selection comes first. We look at each lot from several angles. 

Origin. Our single origin range covers more than twenty producing countries, from Ethiopia and Kenya to Panama, Peru and Papua New Guinea, as well as island coffees such as Hawaii Kona, Saint Helena and Jamaica Blue Mountain. Where we can, we name the region or farm, such as Sidamo and Guji in Ethiopia or Finca Monte Christo in Honduras.

Grade. Green coffee is sorted by bean size and defects. Kenya AA, for example, is the top size grade for Kenyan coffee. Our specialty coffee range is made up of coffees that score 80 points or more on the Specialty Coffee Association scale.

Variety and processing. How a coffee is grown and processed shapes its flavor as much as where it comes from. A washed coffee usually tastes cleaner and brighter, while a natural often brings more fruit and body. 

Cup profile. Before a coffee joins the range, it is tasted and scored by the team. We look for a clear, clean profile that matches its origin. 

Certification. Selected coffees carry organic (BIO) certification and are labelled as such on the product page. We do not describe the whole range as organic, because it is not. 

Our Roastery also pays farmers premiums in return for its strict quality requirements. That extra income helps growers invest in better harvesting, which in turn protects the quality we ask for.

Belgium is where our roasting knowledge was built, and it is where every part of our coffee operation sits close together. The reasons are practical. 

• Roasting experience: Our roasting story began in Antwerp in 1907. More than a century of recipes, roast profiles and trained roasters stays with today. 
• Access to green coffee: Antwerp is one of Europe's main ports for green coffee. Our lots are checked at our trade partner in the port before they reach the roastery, so any problem is caught early.
• Quality control on site: Roasting, the Quality Lab and packing all take place at the same site, under IFS manufacturing standards.
• Room to develop: Our roastery is also the group's research and development center, so new roast profiles and blends are developed and tested where they will be roasted. 
• Sourcing and roasting connected: Because selection and roasting sit within one group, decisions about a coffee are made with both the green bean and the final roast in mind. 

None of this makes Belgium the only good place to roast coffee. It is simply where our experience, our port access and our quality systems come together, and that is what you taste in Belgian roasted coffee from Cantata.